Conti0 a6 fikrum 



A CS- I HOR 



(^ <S6ristian Sotfe^ 




I 

I 



TO nAHPiiMA ror xpistot. 



J 



NINE 

Nev/ Testament Notions 



OF 



The Fulness of Christ 



A Discourse tvith a special application^ delivered before the Presbytery of San 
Francisco, in the First Church of Oakland, April i8, 1887, by the retiring 
Moderator 

JOHN BOD IN THOMPSON, D. D., 

Minister oj the Gospel at Berkeley, California' 



WITH AN APPENDIX. 



SAN FRANCISCO 
The Occident Printing House, 429 MoitTGOMERY Street 

1887 



\^ 






PRESBYTERY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 

April 19, 1887. 
On recommendation of the Committee on Aid for Colleges it was 
Resolved, That the retiring Moderator be requested to furnish for publi- 
cation his discourse of last evening on The Need for a Christian College. 

Attest, Frederic E. Shearer, 

Stated Clerk. 

[ 1 1 '> " 



Bulletin No. 2 of the New College of California. 
EiKGDv nai 6o^a ©eov vnapxaor. 






_^ 



(P CON CIO AD CLERUM. 



Of His fulness have all ive received. — John 1:16. 

Fathers and Brethren : 

No Christian claims merit for himself. So far as he is a 
Christian, all that he is or has he derives from Christ. And he 
believes that this overflowing fountain is inexhaustible. He is 
sure that in the Divine Christ all fulness dwells. 

The fulness of Christ is a Divine fulness really present, 
and actively demonstrating itself in exact proportion to the 
capacity of apprehension of the intelligent beings to whom it 
is revealed. This revelation is made in the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testament, both of which are inspired of God? 
and are profitable for doctrine, that the man of God may be 
thoroughly furnished unto every good work. But if this result 
is to be effected, the man of God must carefully and prayer- 
fully study every one of the sacred writings that he may know 
the mind of the Spirit therein, and be able thus to speak God's 
word boldly, as he ought to speak it. 

It is true that no prophecy of Scripture is of special inter- 
pretation. No passage is intended to be understood by itself 



alone ; but in accordance with the teachings of other of the 
sacred writings on the same topic. But it is also true that 
what the Scriptures teach as a whole, 'can be learned only by 
the study of each treatise separately. When the teaching of 
each of the sacred writers is known, then, andj then only, can 
the results be combined into one consistent whole. 

And these writers were men. They studied and thought 
and wrote like other men, in the use of all their faculties of 
mind and body, though in so doing these faculties were so 
stimulated by the energy of the Divine Spirit as to be lifted up 
above the danger of error. There is, thus, in every one of the 
Books of the Bible, both a divine element and a human. I 
am sure that in this presence I will not be misunderstood if I 
assume the Divine as sufficiently authenticated ; and speak of 
the human element, which must be as distinctly recognized. 

The Sacred Writers were diligent students of the word of 
God, habitually searching what or what manner of time the 
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. Every one of 
them made progress in the knowledge of Divine things as 
other men do, by the dihgent study of the other Scriptures as 
well as of those he himself was inspired to utter. It is possible, 
therefore, by study of the diflferent writings of the same 
individual, to perceive how new views were from time to time 
opened up to him as he meditated upon these things and 
yielded himself more and more to the teaching of the Divine 



Spirit. The careful study of the hooks of the New Testament 
shows, however, that, though each writer was ever thus grow- 
ing in knowledge as well as in grace, still each had from the first 
one characteristic conception of the person and work of Christ 
to which he habitually recurs, which underlies all his state- 
ments, shapes all his thinking, gives vividness to his views, 
and distinguishes his teachings from that of his fellows. 

No two persons conceive of anything exactly alike. All 
human conceptions are determined more or less by the indi- 
viduality of the persons conceiving. Hence we gain from the 
writers of the New Testament much more knowledge of Christ 
and His work than we could have learned from a record written 
entirely by one person. We are enabled to behold the differ- 
ent aspects of His myraid-sidedness ; and so to perceive, 
and thereby to receive, more of his fulness than could be 
possible in any other conceivable way. 

The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written 
by nine different persons. If we can get distinct views of the 
nine different conceptions of Christ and His work which lay 
in the minds of these writers, it is obvious that we shall know 
more of Him than we could from the constant study of any 
one of them alone. The hour will allow only the most concise 
statement of each and I must trust to your candor to sup- 
ply the necessary qualifications. 

/. We may begin our study with the Epistle of James. 



James was the brother of the Lord, who became the first 
Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, though remaining also a strict 
Jew to the end of his life. During the public ministry of the 
Lord Jesus, his brothers did not believe in Him. But when 
He solemnly testified under oath the night before He suff'ered 
that He was the Christ and proved it by His resurrection on the 
third day they seem like Thomas to have been completely con- 
vinced that He was all that He claimed to be. Thencefor- 
ward James thought of Him always as the Messiah of Israel. 
As such he trusted in Him. As such he preached Him. As 
such he inculcated obedience to Him. Always, to James, 
Christianity was simply the culmination of Judaism. So 
wedded. was he to the Law of Moses that he calls even the 
Gospel a law, though a perfect law, and a law of liberty. He 
writes to warn his fellow-servants of God and of the Messiah, 
against the temptation to violate this law of liberty, and to 
exhort them to remain faithful under whatever trials. 

Perhaps the one English word which more nearly than any 
other represents his notion of the relation of Christians to 
Christ, is Loyalty. He desires them, notwithstanding all the 
temptations to which they are about to be exposed, to remain 
loyal in heart and life, that they may be perfect and entire, 
wanting nothing. Such loyalty has in it an element of faith. 
Those brought up under a religion that puts much stress upon 
external forms, may be loyal to King Jesus very much as they 



are loyal to Kaiser Wilhelm. But, so be it true heart-loyalty, 
they belong to Christ and will be saved by Him through ever 
increasing sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. 

II. Jude, the other brother of the Lord, modestly describes 
himself as the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James. 
His object was to guard those who are beloved of God and 
kept for Jesus Christ against the temptation, now present, of 
which they had been forewarned by James. It was the temp- 
tation to yield to the lusts of the flesh under the lead of men 
who asserted that the soul of the Christian is so far superior 
to the body that it makes no difference what he does with this 
lower, material part of his being ! Against this hypocritical 
sensuality, (which, then as now, claimed to be a higher spirit- 
uality) Jude writes an impassioned invective, citing from the 
Jewish Scriptures, both sacred and secular, example after 
example of the Divine vengeance upon such sins. 

In such an epistle there is little occasion for dogmatic state- 
ment ; yet it is easy to see that his views of Christ and His 
mission are very like those of his brother. To both alike, 
Jesus is the long-promised Messiah in whose service alone is 
salvation from sin. But Jude, writing so many years later, 
goes further than James. He presents the Saviour, not only as 
the Messiah, but also as our only Lord, asserting, thus. His 
universal sovereignty in terms which those to whom he wrote 
were accustomed to use of God only. He makes mention of 



the Holy Spirit, moreover, in a distinctively New Testament 
manner, as the possession of Christians, in whom alone they 
can pray successfully. If we characterize James as inculcating 
heart-loyalty to Jesus, the Messianic King, we may say that 
Jude exhorts to sincere obedience to Christ, the Universal 
Lord, through the inworking agency of the Holy Spirit. 

///. Matthew the Publican never misses an opportunity 
to show that he regards Christianity as the completion of 
Judaism. He writes specifically to prove to his kinsmen 
according to the flesh, that Jesus of Nazareth is 'the long- 
expected Messiah, foretold by type and prophecy. His 
favorite phrase is, That it might he fulfilled. The key-note to 
his narrative is found in the words of Jesus which he quotes : 
I am come not to destroy^ hut to fulfil. He clearly perceives, 
also, that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament, not in a crude 
formalistic way merely, but in the true spirit and intent 
thereof, and that those who believe in Him as such a Spiritual 
Messiah, by this faith secure for themselves the blessings 
promised. 

These three, James and Jude and Matthew, stand by 
themselves among the writers of the New Testament as most 
closely connected in thought with those of the Old. Of course 
they are still more closely connected with those of the New. 
But they never forgot that they were Jews, heirs of the prom- 
ises made to the fathers by the prophets. 



IV. Mark was the companion of Peter, and wrote down 
the statements he so often heard from him in his preaching 
respecting the wonderful works of the Son of God. Writing 
for Romans familiar with the mythological fables respecting 
Hercules and other half-human, half-divine heroes, he presents 
the Divine-human Christ as the grandest of all heroes, engag- 
ing in a contest with Satan, gaining the victory over him and 
his powers, rescuing the unfortunate captives of the Evil One. 

This conception was as old as the primitive times of the 
Tsraelitish people. It was a common event in those days of 
anarchy for the stronger to overpower the weak and carry 
away even whole families into the most deplorable captivity. 
In such case, ofttimes, some mighty kinsman or friend would 
raise a band, pursue the invader, and rescue the captives. 
In the days of Job this experience was so common that this 
patriarch conceived of God as his Divine Kinsman who should 
stand in the latter days upon the earth and rescue him from 
the Adversary'who for the present had gotten the victory over 
him. And thus Mark recognizes Jesus as the Divine Hero 
who first worsts the Evil One in a face to face contest in the 
wilderness, and then goes on to complete His victory in the 
rescue of His fellows whom Satan had carried away captive. 
He forgives also the sins of those whom he rescues, and confers 
upon them all needed blessing, requiring only that they trust 
in Him as able and willing to do this for^them. 



10 

It is quite true that this notion of Christ as a conqueror, in 
greater or less degree, pervades all the writings of the New 
Testament. But it is also true that no other of these writers 
has seized upon it as the controlling thought of his treatise. 
Mark's vivid narrative can be properly understood only when 
it is read in the light of this its fundamental principle. 

V. Peter subsumes the view given by Mark, and develops 
it, in accordance with his object, to cheer and encourage the 
Christians under the difficulties and trials to which they were 
exposed. He emphasizes the connection between the Old and 
New Testament revelation as was most fitting in the Apostle 
of the Circumcision. But the main thought throughout is of 
Christ triumphing over death and all the powers of evil, and 
now sitting at the right hand of God as the source of present 
spiritual blessing and the pledge of finally complete salvation. 
For this reason Peter is commonly spoken of as the Apostle 
of Hope. 

VI. The Epistle to the Hebrews was written, apparently, by 
an unknown author who belonged to the school of Paul. This 
writer shows the superiority of Christianity to Judaism by 
showing the superiority of Christ as the Son of God to angels ; 
as a Leader to both Moses and Joshxia ; as a Priest to the 
whole order of Jewish Priests ; and as a victim to all the 
victims that ever smoked on Jewish altars. He teaches that 
the sacrifice as off'ered by the priest according to the will of 



11 

God is a substitute for the sinner whose life has been forfeited 
by sin, and that believers are saved thus only through the 
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The doctrine 
of the vicarious atonement is more clearly taught in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews than anywhere else in the New Testa- 
ment. 

VII. Paul frequently characterizes the work of Christ for 
sinners by the word Redemption. The term belonged to the 
Jewish Civil Code. If a man had sold himself for debt, it was 
competent for a friend who had the money to buy hack the 
unfortunate debtor so that he became again a freeman. No 
Israelite could hold an Israelite in perpetual bondage. In any 
event he must go free in the year of Jubilee. And he always 
had the privilege of securing his freedom whenever a friend 
could be found to pay the proper ransom-price. The same 
thing was true of property pledged for debt. And so common 
was the practice of redemption both of the person and the 
property, under the Hebrew Commonwealth, that Jehovah's 
promised deliverance of His people is again and again repre- 
sented by the prophets as a Redemption, a buying back, from 
the unfortunate condition into which they had, as it were, 
sold themselves by sin. 

This Old Testament usage passed over into the Christian 
Church and is especially prominent in the writings of Paul, 
the best instructed of all the writers of the New Testament 



12 

in the theology of his day. The price which a redeemer pays 
is called a ransom ; and so Paul says that Christ Jesus gave 
Himself a ransom for us. So common is the use of this term, 
Redeemer, both in the Old Testament and in the New, that it 
is to be feared many readers of the English Bible understand 
it as a general term denoting merely a deliverer, and so lose 
much of the definitenes£ of the conception of Christ and His 
work which the Holy Spirit intended to convey by the use of 
the specific word, Redeemer. 

2. But this view of the work of Christ as a Redemption 
from bondage did not adequately meet the ethical aspects of 
the case as it lay in Paul's mind, because it did not suffi- 
ciently take into account the awful fact of human sin by which 
the bondage is caused. 

Paul was the first to perceive the true nature of sin, be- 
cause he was the first to perceive the true nature of righteous- 
ness. The underlying thought of the Old Testament upon 
this topic had never been clearly apprehended until he seized 
the unexpressed proposition with the grasp of his superlative 
genius and recognized the fact that the norm of Ethics is the 
ethically Supreme. 

He was the first upon whose clarified consciousness flashed 
the clean-cut conception that the standard of conduct for man, 
God's image, is God ; that righteousness is conformity to God 
as He has revealed Himself in His word. With equally distinct 



13 

vision he perceived that such rigliteoiisness, such Tightness, 
no man has. Not one has conformed to the standard. All are 
guilty. Paul sees the criminality of sin as no one else had 
ever seen it and, in speaking of it, almost or quite uncon- 
sciously adopts the terms of criminal law. At the same time 
he perceives that God is a God of grace as well as of justice, 
that He has provided for man the righteousness he needs ; 
that this righteousness was wrought out by the absolute con- 
formity to God of His Divine-human Son, Jesus Christ, and that 
it is freely imputed, apart from works, to every man who trusts 
Him for it. One might say that Christ thus becomes the sin- 
ner's Substitute. But this Paul does not say. The distinctly 
substitutionary doctrine was developed, as we have seen, 
by that disciple of Paul who wrote the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. 

These various aspects of the work of Christ are some- 
times blended into one to the confusion of all. Objection 
is then brought that they are too formal, too technical. But 
this objection does not hold against them as they lay in the 
mind of Paul. He never intended them to be regarded as 
complete representations, but simply distinct views from 
different stand-points, affording clear perception of most 
important aspects of the fulness of Christ, which could not 
be made so clear in any other conceivable way. 

3. Paul, moreover, has a third view, which he has not 



14 

worked out to its completion. This view, rightly understood, 
harmonizes the others and frees them from the objections not 
unnaturally brought against them when presented without 
reference to it. This third view of Paul's is the pervading 
view of the Evangelist Luke, in connection with whose 
writings it will be most convenient to consider it. 

VIII. Luke was a scientifically educated physician, living 
in the polished city of Antioch. He was apparently one of 
the many educated men among the heathen who were with 
good reason beginning to despair of civil society. Doubtless 
he was familiar with the rumor, which according to the 
Roman historians, ran through the whole East, that in those 
days should be born in Palestine a Deliverer for the race. 

At all events, when he heard Paul preaching Jesus of Nazareth 
as the Saviour of mankind, he cast in his lot with him and 
became his companion and friend. He wrote two of the books 
of the New Testament, a biography and a history, showing 
how Christianity began in Palestine and passed from the Jew- 
ish to the Gentile world. Paul had spoken of the Lord Jesus 
Christ as the Second Adam, and had shown that as all who were 
connected with the first Adam are lost through his sin, so all 
connected with the Second Adam are saved through His 
righteousness. He had taught that the relation between 
Christ and His people is so peculiar and intimate, that they 
are one with Him, and that all they have of blessing for time 



15 

and for eternity results from the fact that they are in Him. 

The oneness between Christ and His people, between the 
Head and the members, is the ground of all the Pauline theo- 
ries of the work of Christ ; and this, understood in its far- 
reaching significance, relieves them from the air of formality 
and technicality and unreality which they must always have 
to minds not yet able to apprehend this higher unity. 

It is just this thought of the unity between Christ and 
His people which underlies all Luke's writings. Citing the 
Old Testament to show that it looked forward to the salvation 
not merely of the Jewish people but of the race, he takes pains 
to exhibit again and again the complete and thorough humanity 
of Jesus as the fruit of the womb, the babe, the child, the boy, 
the man. 

Throughout, he conceives the Saviour as the Man, Christ 
Jesus. Even when recording such words and deeds of the 
Lord as are recorded also by others, he generally adds some 
statement which gives greater prominence to the Humanity. 

The germ of this theory is found in our Lord's own teaching. 
The Son of Man He commonly called Himself. He was not 
merely a Son of man. Much less was He a son of a Man. 
He was the Son of Man. The term indicates One in Whom 
all that truly belongs to humanity is realized. 

Man means mankind. The Son of Man is the Son of Man- 
kind, connected with no special nation, class, or condition. 



16 

As Adam, the father of mankind, the first Head of the race, 
summed up within himself the whole race which was yet to 
be, so the second Adam, the second Head of the race, the Son 
of Mankind, recapitulates within Himself the race as through 
His grace it is yet to be. In Him all may be equally blessed. 
Every human being may have as his own all the blessings 
Jesus brings, if only by act of will he trusts in Him as the 
Head of the race, whence all its blessings flow. By such 
voluntary union with the Son of Man each member of the race 
in his own experience may attain to the loftiest heights of 
which humanity is capable. So Luke conceived of the Christ. 
This is the one grand thought with which he wrote both 
biography and history. 

IX. And now revelation was well-nigh complete. Scattered 
up and down through it were veins of golden ore awaiting 
only a competent discoverer. Among these deposits of Divine 
truth none are richer than those which owe their origin to 
Paul, the most prolific of the writers of the New Testament. 
Brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a scribe instructed unto 
the Kingdom of Heaven, he was able to bring forth out of his 
treasure things old and new to confirm his teachings respect- 
ing Jesus, the Christ. He taught that the Son of God, who 
became the Second Adam, was the Image of the invisible God, 
the very counterpart of the Divine essence ; that He was the 
firstborn of all the creation, begotten before all worlds ; that by 



17 

Him all created things both came into being and are kept in 
being ; and that every man is God's image, though no longer 
like God either in knowledge or in holiness. But he was too 
busy preaching the Gospel to elaborate all the truths which 
the fertility of his inspired genius suggested. It was reserved 
for the last one of the inspired writers, the disciple whom 
Jesus loved, to gather up these and other like specimens of 
wondrous worth, and to cast them into the alembic of his own 
reflective consciousness, until they were first fused by the 
white heat of Christian love, and then crystallized by the 
deliberateness of Divine contemplation into a clearness which 
by its very brightness dazzles ordinary vision. He had been 
with Jesus and learned of Him. With the intuition of an 
unexampled spiritual-mindedness he had been able to enter 
into the inner thoughts of his Master as none other did or 
could. He lay in Jesus' bosom ; and drank, deeper than it 
was possible for any other to^drink from the fountain of the 
Water of Life and Light and Love which the Divine Word 
opened to His disciples. 

The seed-thoughts of eternal truth sown in his productive 
soul fructified under the stimulation of the Holy Spirit, so 
that he was able, when occasion called, to refute the destruc- 
tive errors of the philosophy of the day by the right develop- 
ment of the underlying truths of which they were the distor- 
tion and the caricature. 



18 

During the latter years of his long life, he had leisure to 
indulge his wonderful faculty of philosophic thought in relegat- 
ing to its proper place in one logically related and consistent 
whole the truths of Divine Revelation, as they had been 
tested in his own experience ; and to write out the record, when 
requested, for the sake of those who should come after. 

And from that day to this, to the extent to which his writings 
have been understood, the truths thus stated have been as 
effectual to counteract the evils of philosophy, falsely so-called, 
as they were when they first fell from the lips of the Son of 
Thunder who was also the Apostle of Love. In- language of 
almost child-like simplicity, he has given us a view of the 
fulness of Christ so comprehensive as to transcend the grasp 
of every other intellect from that day to this ; a view which 
will furnish the theme for adoring study while the world stands ; 
a view to be adequately apprehended, perhaps, by those of sim- 
ilar deep spiritual mindedness in the days to come ; and to 
give place to a grander only when upon every soul that over- 
cometh He that is Holy and True shall write His own 
New Name, causing to know even as also we are known. 
Laying hold of the teachings of the Old Testament respecting 
Divine Wisdom, John presents to us the Son of God, eternally 
begotten in the depths of the Divine Consciousness, as the 
Revealer, and therefore the Creator and Preserver. He per- 
ceives that the relation of this Divine Being to man, is essen- 



19 

tially different from His relation to the inferior creatures ; 
that the Uncreated Image of God is the principle of the 
existence of the created Image as such ; and that in this rela- 
tionship lay the possibility that the Son of God should become 
the Son of Man that men might become sons of God in 
Him, the lost likeness being restored through the reception by 
faith into man's innermost being of the supernatural triumph- 
ant life which exists for him in the Christ. He presents to us 
the incarnate Word, saying expressly : "I am come that they 
may have Life and have it abundantly." 

Of course all these statements of the various aspects of the 
person and work of Christ are to be understood, not absolutely, 
but relatively. No one of the Sacred Writers has any exclu- 
sive view, though each occupies his own individual stand- 
point from which he represents what he most clearly sees of 
the inexhaustible wealth of the God-man, in Whom dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Thus are vouchsafed 
to us while yet in the flesh, as it were through rifts in the 
clouds, glimpses of the Excellent Glory ; and the sight both 
intensifies the desire and increases the capability to know ever 
more and more of Him in Whom all fulness dwells. What 
shall it be when these clay walls are all broken down and, no 
longer through narrow rifts of cloud and narrower gateways of 
sense, but unhindered on every side, knowledge of the Divine 
rushes in upon the soul like waves of ocean breaking on the 
shore I 



20 



The Call for the College. 



Brethren and Fathers : — I have stirred up your pure minds 
by way of remembrance of these definite teachings of the New 
Testament for a specific purpose. Our Theological Seminary 
has four Departments. It is the province of the Department 
of Exegetical Theology to secure to the students clear appre- 
hension of the different aspects of the person and work of 
Christ presented by the inspired writers. It is the province of 
the Department of Systematic Theology to combine these into 
one consistent whole, without diminishing the distinctness or 
vigor of any. It is the province of the Department of Histori- 
cal Theology to show how each and all of these have produced 
their proper effect upon the church whose life they have so 
largely shaped. And it is the province of the Department of 
Practical Theology to enable men to proclaim these truths 
with a vividness as nearly as possible like that with which 
they were conceived by their inspired authors. 

But it is impossible to do these things unless those to be 
taught are previously acquainted with the language in which 
these revelations are made. It is not possible to apprehend 
the precise meaning of each of the Sacred Writers unless one 
is familiar with the language in which he wrote. If our young 
men, then, are to become able ministers of the New Testament, 
they must read the New Testament readily in the very words 



21 

of the Holy Ghost, before they enter upon the prescribed 
course of study in the Theological Seminary. 

Nowhere in the world is there greater need of thorough 
equipment for the Gospel ministry than on this coast. No- 
where in the world is there so large a proportion of acute 
antagonists of our holy religion. Nowhere is there so large a 
percentage of errorists of every name, basing their errors on 
wrong interpretations of Holy Scripture. And these can be 
refuted only by men who have a thorough linguistic knowledge 
of what the Sacred Writers really teach. Of course, those pre- 
paring for the ministry should be adequately instructed in 
other things also. They should have a competent knowledge 
of natural science, of history, of philosophy, of Hebrew, of 
Latin and of German. Above all, they should be masters of 
their own English tongue. But I leave these all out of consid- 
eration for the present, to insist in this connection only upon a 
thorough acquaintance with the language of the New Testa- 
ment. 

Brethren in the Ministry ! Do not we ourselves know how 
we have been handicapped all life long by inadequate prepar- 
ation in this respect? And shall not we do all we can to pro- 
vide better things for those who are coming after us? Why, 
the girl in her teens, wearied of thrumming on her guitar to 
the harsh strains of her native English, determines to achieve 
a conquest over the sweetly-flowing Italian, and the way is 



22 

provided for her to accomplish her determination. Granted, 
that the methods of teaching Italian, or French, or German 
are better than those in vogue for teaching Greek. But we 
have found out at last that Greek is not a dead language but 
a living. It is spoken by millions of people, in Greece, in 
Turkey, in Egypt, in Asia Minor, and in the Islands of the 
Sea. The Greek Testament as it came from the hands of the 
inspired writers is a text-book to-day in the public schools of 
Greece. And the graduates of these schools read Xenophon 
and Herodotus as the graduates of our schools read Milton 
and Macaulay. The grammar taught in these schools is a 
little book that can be read through in two hours. Why, then, 
should American youth be compelled to spend years in mem- 
orizing extensive philological treatises before they are permit- 
ted to enter the precincts of the temple of Greek literature? 
In many respects Greek is very like English. Let it be taught 
as other living languages are taught, and our young people 
can learn it as quickly as any other. Here in California we 
have facilities for teaching Greek such as are not enjoyed in 
any other parts of our country. We have Greeks among us. 
And we shall have more. The Greek church of San Francisco 
worships regularly in the language of the New Testament. 
We are more cosmopolitan than any other State in the Union. 
And we are not so fast bound in the chains of evil precedent. 
Every Greek professor who has been in Greece exhorts us 



23 

to teach Greek as the Greeks teach it. We have the privilege 
of shaping our future. Let us shape it aright ! 

Fathers and Brethren ! We must have a College. We 
must have a college to prepare our young men for theological 
study. This will not hinder more general study also. On the 
contrary it will help it. All the older colleges of our country 
were founded primarily for the education of young men for 
the ministry. As the country develops others also avail them- 
selves of the opportunities thus furnished. 

There are parents among us who desire for their children 
the highest possible culture. But the highest culture is not 
possible unless one is familiar with the language which con- 
tains more important treasures, literary, intellectual, ethical, 
esthetical and religious, than any other. The very highest 
culture is not possible unless one can commune with the thought 
of Plato and Aristotle and Demosthenes and Euripides and 
Eschylus and Sophocles and John and Paul and Chrysostom as 
they themselves gave it expression. 

I believe that the hue and cry against the classical lan- 
guages has reached its climax. Even the most devoted adhe- 
rents of the bread-and-butter sciences are beginning to perceive 
that man cannot live by bread alone, that intellectual and 
ethical culture also are necessary for the welfare of man even 
in this world. 

Nor is it enough to develop the intellect alone. We have 



24 

been trying the intellectual system in this country now for a 
hundred years. The results are most clearly seen, of course, 
where the system was earliest instituted and has been most 
efficiently and consistently carried out, though the system of 
all the States is essentially the same. Massachusetts was the 
pioneer. In that State, seventy-seven per cent, of the chil- 
dren are in schools, while the percentage in all the other 
States lags far behind, nowhere outside of New England reach- 
ing more than fifty per cent I Under these favorable circum- 
stances, according to official statistics, the proportion of crim- 
inals among the native-born population of Massachusetts has 
more than doubled in thirty years ! In 1850 it was one in 
twelve hundred and sixty-seven (1267). In 1880 it was one 
in six hundred and fifteen (615). 

Knowledge is power. But when there is no recognition of 
accountability to God, it is quite as likely to be power for evil 
as for good. The results of the merely intellectual system of 
education in public schools and universities may not appear 
while the piety of parents still produces its proper effect upon 
the children in- the life at home ; but when this dwindles to a 
minimum increase of crime keeps pace with the increase of the 
knowledge which gives power to commit it. 

If we compare our system with that of Great Britain the 
results are equally startling. In the United States the pro- 
portion of crimijaajls to the whole population is one to 837. Iii 



England, where every child in school is constantly instructed 
in his duty to God, the proportion is only one to 1800. And 
even this proportion is steadily decreasing, while here the 
proportion is as steadily increasing ! Nor need this surprise us. 
Our children spend from seven to fourteen years of the most 
impressible period of their lives in school. During all these 
plastic years they are trained ^and developed intellectually 
with the greatest earnestness and care, while duty to God is 
as carefully and constantly excluded from mention even, 
though experience proves that duty to man can he successfully 
taught only as a part of duty to God ! Seven years of such 
training inevitably gives the impression that intellectual 
pursuits alone make life worth living, and thus the young 
come to despise work and to undervalue moral and religious 
development. 

When they become parents, they desire smart children 
rather than good children ; and whole families, even of those 
who profess and call themselves Christians, devote not only 
six days, but also much of the seventh day of the week, to 
secular study or amusement, to the neglect of the means in 
the use of which alone God has promised to be a God to us 
and to. our seed after us ! 

Is it any wonder that even those of them who thought they 
had come to a clear trust in Christ, lose first their hope and 
then their faith? Is it any wonder that those who once 



thought they heard Christ calling them to the ministry, hear 
that call no longer and betake themselves to secular pursuits? 
Is it not high time to inquire anxiously for our children as 
for ourselves : What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul? 

The remedy will be found in the recognition of the fact 
that '' truth is in order to goodness :" that the intellectual is 
valuable only as it helps on the ethical ; that the standard of 
ethics is God as revealed in His word; that the hope of 
humanity lies in conforming the character to the example of 
the Divine Man, Christ Jesus. 

Is not this the life that we desire for our children? — that 
every one of them make the most of himself for God and his 
fellows, since the very constitutive principle of his existence 
which differences him from all other creatures in the world is 
the fact that he is God's image, and therefore capable of un- 
limited development God ward? Do we not need a college 
which shall animate our youth with the desire for such devel- 
opment and teach them to achieve it? The higher institutions 
of learning sooner or later impart their own character to the 
lower. Am I not right in saying that we must have a Chris- 
tian college? 

Let every one of you that can pray, pray earnestly, 
importunately, believingly, that the Lord will raise up, 
qualify and send forth laborers int the fields white unto 



27 

the harvest. Let parents consecrate their children to God 
and train them to make the most of themselves for Him and 
for humanity. Let pastors preach upon this subject, calling 
special attention to the kind of training so much needed here. 
Let elders talk about it everywhere. Let congregations and 
communities and individuals contribute for such a college, as 
God has blessed them. The oldest and best colleges in the 
country were founded on this basis. Every one of them was 
intended chiefly to promote a religious and ethical develop- 
ment, and was made intellectual only so far as would best 
subserve this grander end. 

The Founders of these institutions planned not only for the 
body, but also for the soul ; not only for the present, but also 
for the future. They provided the best thing possible for their 
children, and by the selfsame act became Benefactors of their 
country and their kind ; and generation after generation rises 
up to call them blessed. In every State of the Union men 
educated through their instrumentality are controlling the 
forces of society and directing the destinies of the Republic. 
What can be Done Here. 

Such an institution on this coast would shape the forms of 
civil society, as well as of religion, not only in the whole 
region west of the Rocky Mountains, but largely also in Mex- 
ico, in South America, in Japan, in China, in Corea, and in 
the Islands of the Pacific. 



28 

The experiment of collegiate instruction last year in connec- 
tion with the Theological Seminary of San Francisco, has 
shown how easily such a college could be built up in that city. 
The resources of the State University at Berkeley are at our 
service, so far as we may need them.* Similar facilities 
may, perhaps, be available elsewhere. The new Congrega- 
tional College at Oxford has but two Professors of its 
own. Evelyn College for women begins its work at Prince- 
ton in September with a President only, the instruction 
being given wholly by the professors of the College of New 
Jersey. We can begin in the same way, in San Francisco, in 
Berkeley, or in some other place. Or, it may be best, for us to 
start alone. Possibly one community or one person will 



*Ia Ms last Report to the Governor of the State (Sept. 7, 1886), President Holden 
says: " The absence of specific instruction in Theology and Divinity in the Univer- 
sity is deplored by many far-seeing and liberal men, who would be glad to see their 
sons and the sons of their fellow-citizens provided with the means of study in all 
the branches of a religious training. 

"It appears to me that the remedy is not far to seek. I do not see why colleges of 
Divinity and of Theology may not be established at Berkeley, or at any place that 
their founders may think wise. Every safeguard is provided bylaw that the inten- 
tions of such founders shall be loyally carried out. Either on the beautiful grounds 
of_ the University or near them, such colleges could he erected. Faculties of learned 
Divines could be chosen, and any desired curriculum could be prescribed. Such of 
the courses in the colleges already established at Berkeley as might be useful, could 
be attended by their students. Specific Theological training, and all the accessories 
of a life devoted to purely religious deeds could be provided. 

Nothing but good could come of such a union. The effect of such a school as this, 
near our present colleges, would be to direct the attention of all our students in the 
right way. On the other hand, the Faculty of such a Divinity school would find its 
hands strengthened by the presence of a large body of earnest students, both pro- 
fessors and scholars What is to prevent the founding at'Berkeley of a School 

of Divinity, which shall be under the direction of any special church? " 



29 

furnish the grounds and buildings, and another the endow- 
ment. Nearly one-half the population of the State resides 
adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco. Somewhere near 
this Bay we must have a college, and we must have it soon. 
The precise locality and the designation of persons to manage 
the trust may well be left to those who give the most unques- 
tioned proof of interest in it. Even as I speak the far-sighted 
business men of Los Angeles are locating college buildings 
upon an eminence overlooking that city and the sea. 

A hundred thousand dollars would establish such a college 
upon a secure foundation. It is much more than was first 
given to the institutions which commemorate the far-reaching 
beneficence and perpetuate the names of John Harvard and 
Elihu Yale and Henry Rutgers. And the well known consci- 
entious conservatism of Presbyterians affords the strongest 
possible guaranty that whatever funds may be given for this 
purpose shall forever be used only for the purpose designated 
by the donor. 

In some way or other something must be done, and done at 
once. Long ago the Synod of the Pacific appointed trustees. 
Last year a curriculum was prepared. This year it has been 
printed. Earnest young men from all parts of the State are 
inquiring for such a college. Some of them are entering other 
institutions. There are three such in one parish near at hand. 
Two others in the same parish h^-ve been pursuing their stu4- 



30 

ies all this year under such desultory instruction as the acting 
pastor can give. The need is immediate. 

I have exhorted you to prayer. But, once when Joshua was 
praying, the Lord said unto him: "Get thee up ! Wherefore 
liest thou thus upon thy face?'' The time for action has come. 
The organization of the New College of California has already 
taken place. It should begin its work immediately. And the 
best way to begin is to begin. 

We can do it. In God's name ! " Not by might, nor 
by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." Moun- 
tains of difficulty may rise up before us. But in such case 
the word of the Lord to one that builds for Him is : " Who 
thou, great mountain ! Before Zerubbabel, a plain ! And 
he shall bring forth the top-stone ! Shoutings ! Grace, grace 
unto it ! " Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me say- 
ing : " His hands have laid the foundation of this house ; his 
hands also shall finish it." The work that is of God for the 
upbuilding of His Kingdom cannot come to naught. The eyes 
of His providence run to and fro through the whole earth to 
see to it that such enterprises prosper. The Lord will provide. 
Be not faithless, but believing ; and in due season, not only we, 
but with us also the seven eyes of Jehovah shall rejoice when 
they see the plummet in the hands of the Founder and Builder 
testing the finished work. " Speak unto the Children of Israel 
that they go forward !" 



COLLEaE OF CALIFORIIA 



EIKHN KAI A OH A QEOT THAPXaN 



THE CURRICULUM 



COPYRIGHT, DECEMBER 3, 1886, 
BY JOHN BODIN THOMPSOH. 



Bulletin No. 1 of the New College of California. 
This second edition issued May 2, 1887. 



^<, 

^ 



(Lollzpz of Califoraia, 



The New College of California was organized October 27, 1886. 
HE Trustees, (appointed by the Synod of the Pacific) are : 



John Bodin Thompson, D. D., President, Francis Allen Hoeton, D. D. 

Rev. Arthur Crosby, W. S. Jacks, Esq. 

Rev. Richard Wylie, George D, Gray, Esq. 

Isaac Culberg, Esq. Robert Dickson, Esq. 

H. B. Underhill, Esq. Frederic E. Shearer, D. D. 

Charles A. Fish, Esq. Samuel P. Sprecher, D. D. 

William Alexander, D. D. David Jacks, Esq. 

Robert Mackenzie, D. D. C. E. Babb, D. D., Secretary. 



The design is to educate the youth of California in the best manner 
possible by a thorough Classical, Philosophical and Biblical, as well as 
Mathematical and Scientific training, that every one may be able to 
make the most of himself for God and humanity, ''forasmuch as he is 
the Image and Glory of God.'* 

The means by which this is to be acconiplished are indicated in the 
foUQwing pages. 



E^cami nations, 



The Entrance Examinations will be upon these topics : 

English: Grammar, History of the United States, Geography, Composition. 

Latin: (Allen and Greenough's text-books). 

Grammar, Geography of Ancient Italy, Caesar's Gallic War, Cicero's Six 
Orations, Sallust's Jugurtha and Cataline. Composition (twelve chapters of 
Arnold's, Rivington's revised edition.) 

Geeek: (Goodwin's text-books). 

Grammar. White's First Lessons. Xenophon's Anabasis. The Gospel ac- 
cording to Matthew. 

Mathematics: (Todhunter's text-books). 

Arithmetic, and the Metric System. Algebra, through quadratic equations. 
Geometry, through the first two books of Euclid. 



CALENDAK. 

The New College of Californiaia expected to begin and carry on its 
work according to the following Calendar : 

1887. 
September 22, Thursday . . . . . First Semester begins. 

November 24, 25, Thursday, Friday, . . . - Thanksgiving Recess . 

December 22, Thursday, . . . . . Winter Recess begins. 

1888. 
January 4, Wednesday, --.-.. Winter Recess ends. 

January 26, Thursday, - - - - - • Day of Prayer for Colleges. 

February 6, Monday . . . . . Second Semester begins. 

March 30, Thursday, ---... Spring Recess begins. 

April 7, Wednesday, - Spring Recess ends. 

June 28, Wednesday, - - - - - - College Year ends. 



(Curriculum. 



FRESHMAN YEAR. 

First Semester. 
English: Rhetoric (Hart). Vocal Culture. Readings. Essays. 
Latin: Li vy (Chase). Composition (Arnold). Synonyms (Shumway). History. 
Greek: Herodotus (Furnall). Composition (Sidgwick). History. 
Mathematics: Algebra (Todhunter.) 

Natural Science: Physiology and Hygiene (Appleton's Science Primer). 
CHRISTIANITY: The Gospel according to John. 

Second Semester. 
ENGLISH: Trench on Words. Elocution. Essays. 

Latin: Pliny (Macmillan). Cicero de Officiis. Composition. History. 
Greek: Demosthenes (Furnall). Lucian. Composition. History. 
Mathematics: Geometry (Todhunter). 
Natural Science: Physical Geography (Guyot). 
Christianity: The Gospel according to Mark. 

SOPHOMORE YEAR. 

First Semester. 
English: Principles of Discourse (Hunt). Essays. Debates. 
Latin: Cicero's Letters and De Oratore. Composition. 
Greek: Xenophon's Memorabilia (Winans). Composition. 
Mathematics: Trigonometry (Newcomb). 
Natural Science: Chemistry (Roscoe). 
German: Studien und Plaudereien (Stern). 
Christianity: The Gospel according to Luke. 

Second Semester. 
English: Principles of Discourse (Hunt). Essays. Debates. Addresses. 
Latin: Tacitus. Quintilian. Composition. 
Greek: Plato's Apology. Composition. 
Mathematics: Analytical Geometry (Puckle). 
Natural Science: Mineralogy and Geology (LeConte), 
German: Grimm's Maehrchen. Schul-Grammatik. 
Chbistianity: The Acts of the Apostles. 



JUNIOR YEAR. 

First Semester. 
English: Early Engllsli (Hunt). Chaucer. Spenser. 
Latin: The iEneid of Vergil. Composition. 
Greek: The Iliad of Homer. Composition. 
Natural Science: Physics (Antony and Brackett). 
German: Selections (Whitney). 
Philosophy: Psychology (McCosh). 
History: Green's English People. 
Christianity: The Bible. Manuscripts. Versions. The Anglo-American Revision. 

Second Semester. 
English: English Literature (Craik). 
Latin : Horace, the Ars Poetica and the Odes. 
Greek: Aristophanes, Euripides. 

Natural Science: Electricity (Thompson), Astronomy (Newcomb and Holden). 
German: The Nibelungen Lied. Schiller. • ' 

Philosophy: Logic (McCosh). 
History: McMaster's American People. 
Christianity: Its Divine Origin Indicated by its Historical Effects (Storrs). 

SENIOR YEAR. 

First Semester. 
English: Milton, Shakespeare. 
Latin: TertuUian, Augustine. 
Greek: Aristotle, Philo. 
German: Goethe. 

Philosophy: Metaphysics, Christian Ethics. 
History: White's Eighteen Christian Centuries. 
Christianity: Analogy of religion to the Course of Nature (Butler). 

Second Semester. 
English: American Authors. 

Latin: Ancient Hymns (Marsh). ' • 

Greek: "The Teaching of the Apostles." Basil to Young Men. . ' 
German: Scientific and Philosophical Selections. 

Philosophy: Esthetics, Sociology. ' 

History: Hurst's Christian Church. 

Christianity: Modern Doubt and Christian Belief (Christlieb). 
Note. French or Spanish may be taken instead of Gern^an throughout the course, 



E2cplanatory, 



The general principles and methods by which the best education can 
be secured are well known. The experience of centuries has settled that. 
It is too late in the world's history to raise the question why the depart- 
ments of a complete education have been established. Recent endeavors 
to substitute a more technical training have failed both in Europe and 
America. The apparent gain in the early stages is more than counter- 
balanced by subsequent inferiority and life-long inefficiency. 

There is a great need upon this Coast of an institution whose direct 
object shall be the development of the highest and noblest manhood. 
With this conviction the College of California has been organized, accord- 
ing to the direction of the Synod of the Pacific of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States of America. 

The very first act of the Trustees after the organization was the adop- 
tion of a Curriculum which determines the character of the institution. 
It is designed to be not a university but a college, conducting the student 
to the " commencement" of his professional and practical studies. If 
this design can be carried into execution, the' college will be conservative 
of all that is good while progressive toward all that is better. All the 
classes will receive regular instruction in the principles and practice 
of Christianity. More attention than is usual will be given to philosophy. 
In teaching mathematics and the sciences, the newest and best methods 
will be observed. The study of the languages will begin with reading 
prose ; continue with the memorizing of grammatical forms ; and end with 
the consideration of poetry. The English language and its literature 
will command most attention. German and French text books will be 
used in the higher classes. 

Modifications of the course will be made, for the present, to suit the 
special needs of those preparing for the ministry of the GospeL 



©pening of the College. 



The opening of the College of California, it is hoped may 
take place Thursday, September 22, 1887. 

All who desire to pursue such a course of study as is 
indicated in the preceding pages, and all who desire to aid 
such a work are requested to correspond with, 

John Bodin Thompson, President 

Box 78, Berkeley, Cal. 



Postscript to this Second Edition: 

All who receive the Bulletins of the college are requested to use 
theni to secure students for the institution. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

029 912 418 6 



